Crown of Blood | The White Princess

To England, From Heartbreak

July, 1498, Gravensteen...

Clutching onto one another's hands, Marian, Edmund, Lisbet, Ned and Anne watched as Mary's coffin was lowered gently into its tomb, a bouquet of carefully arranged white roses placed lovingly on top.

"Oh my baby...take care of her, Richard" the Queen whispered and Ned put an arm around her shoulders while he hugged little Anne to him. Lisbet leaned into Edmund's arms and turned to sob into his doublet again, her black veil hiding her face as he wrapped his arms around her, trying to surpress his sobs as his brother was doing.

Slowly glancing at each other, they exchanged a look of forgiveness...the House of York was untied once more...but it was now short of a most beloved member and Mary's death had broken everyone's hearts.

To the side of her mother and siblings, Mary's Aunt Meg and Grandmother Cecily stood in black gowns, sobbing into handkerchiefs before they dismissed the court and left the remaining Plantagenets to grieve; Bianca and Francis lingering near the back of the chapel with a dark haired boy by the name of Charlie who looked as if his heart were broken. It was.

༒༒༒

"It was that Tudor bastard that did this! He is the one that has taken our Mary from us" Lisbet hissed as she paced up and down the Queen's solar that evening while her mother and siblings watched her, all looking extremely pale in their mourning garb of the deepest black.

"It is my fault" Edmund groaned, refilling his wine cup again and taking a large gulp before passing it to Ned who finished the contents entirely "the poison was meant for me...I should be the one lying in that coffin...not my sister"

"Don't you dare say that ever again, Edmund" Marian whispered harshly and her son bowed his head while she looked away and began to silently cry.

"It's not your fault" Ned said slowly to his brother "you were not to know that Tudor would try to poison you! You were not to know that our dearest little sister would take the cup and drink all of the wine inside! You were not to know and none of us could have"

Anne let out a small sob from beside him and rushed to Marian, in a swirl of black silk, who pulled her youngest child onto her knee and cradled her to her chest, slowly rocking her gently back and forth while a glazed look came over her dark eyes; turned red from crying. After a moment she stood, with Anne still in her arms, and walked quickly from the room, shutting the door firmly behind her.

"So what do we do?" Edmund asked, his sadness now about turning to anger as he downed another goblet of wine "we cannot let this lie! We must avenge our sister!" He stood up from his chair and began to pace with Lisbet who nodded in agreement "we must take our revenge upon Tudor! They have killed one of us and so we shall kill one of them!"